A Pride-full Collection
by sekdaniels
Summary: RL has taken me away from QLFC but I'm getting a chance to continue to write with the help of my beautiful friends from Pride of Portree. This will be a collection of stories inspired by our collected conversations, ideas and inspirations. Round info will be embedded at the beginnings of each story chapter and I'll try to update Characters/ Genres with each chapter.


Fics should be between 1000 - 4000 words, and can be rated up to M, but no smut allowed.

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The Unspoken: Elemental Magics!

I read a lot of fantasy, mostly epic or embedded in the mythological traditions. I love Greek Gods, flying horses, weaving stars and planetary cataclysm. Lately, I've been re-reading a series by Kate Elliott (Alis A. Rasmussen), A Crown of Stars which involves magics ancient and innate, as well as those created by the intervention of people - and I believe these are the same sorts of themes Rowling played with herself. However, there were some things JRK obviously didn't address. Why werewolves and no vampires? How come giants but no dwarves? Murder is used to split the soul (blood magic), but no deeper discussion is provided about souls or angels or the afterlife except for the brief glimpses we get of Harry's parents.

It leaves a lot of room to fill in the gaps.

In this round, I'm exploring many of the forgotten elemental magics to see if we can bring them into the spaces Rowling left for us. Elements will figure prominently in the prompts to be used as you wish; they need not be magical. I have honoured Elliott by using all of the gems that appear in her "crown" in the prompts below as well.

Please note, this round requires you to contact oni by DM with your chosen element. She will assign you as associated magical creature to use for your story.

You can use the creature to inspire your story in one of three ways: 1) give your main character magical characteristics similar to the creature assigned, 2) have your main character take on the form of the assigned magical created either as an Animagus or through some other unintended cause (like being bitten by a werewolf) or 3) have your main character interact with one of these creatures. If you choose this option, the creature should be a main part of the story.

Choose one of the following, no duplicates:

CHOSEN: / Lightning = Valkyrie

**Optional Prompts (use up to 3)**

Optional Prompts:

(colour) emerald

(word) zephyr

(dialogue) "We grow accustomed to the dark."

(object/gem) sardonyx

(colour) ruby

(word) luminocity

(object/gem) pearl

(word) breeze

(poem) Autumn Rain \- D.H. Lawrence

(object/gem) sapphire

(word/time of day) twilight

(quote) "There is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship." -Thomas Aquinas

(word/location) cosmos

(object/gem) lapis lazuli

(word/object) orb

(word) embers

(dialogue) "In my beginning, is my end."

(poem) The Pool \- H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)

(quote) "The poetry of the earth is never dead." - John Keats

(object/gem) carnelian

(poem) Darkness \- Lord Byron

(colour) aquamarine

(word) calignosity

(quote) "The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." - Pamela Hansford Johnson

**Posting Instructions:** When you have completed your story, post it to and post your position and the story link to #bonusrounds

Thunder/ Lightning : Valkyrie

Optional prompts: (word) zephyr, (colour) aquamarine, (poem) Darkness - Byron, (quote) "The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." - Pamela Hansford Johnson

**A/N:** **AU. **Luna's exact whereabouts during the entire Battle of Hogwarts are not outlined in canon. While she is involved in particular segments of the battle that are known to the reader, she also melts back into the chaos a bit, giving me some room to play with, but may not be in strict keeping with all things cannon.

Additionally, I will be changing some of how certain people are taken care of after the Battle of Hogwarts, also making this endeavor AU. Sorry to be vague about that, but I'm trying not to spoil things too much.

Lord Byron wrote _Darkness_ in the chilly, overcast summer that never seemed to arrive in the wake of the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1816. The pall cast by the massive volcanic episode affected the weather worldwide, making sun scarce the whole of that following summer and creating food shortages for several years to come because of the abbreviated growing season. This cold summer along with a recent divorce are evident in his dwelling on the futility of life and his attack on the idea of the holy. Here, I've let that sort of emotional pall hang over the scene much like the cloud of dust hung in the air, casting shadows and doubt to all affected by it.

He has also loaned me some of his poem for the title of this work. Certainly, too, his words are a play on the life lost as much as it is a direct reference to the missing sun. Many bright suns were extinguished in one awful day. We should always remember. Always.

Valkyries are often mistaken for bringing death. However, they were not responsible for the deaths, or even for the battle that preceded — they were 'choosers of the slain' and helpers to Odin, deciding which warriors made it to Valhalla and an afterlife of drunken celebration where they would wait to be called upon again for final battle: Ragnarok. Objectivity is not a Valkyrie's strong suit, and they were not above using mischief or even malicious (dark?) magic to assure that their 'chosen' would be killed. However, no matter how sanitized their mythology is, they are always closely associated with war and death. Here will be no different, although I hope to show that they are less the instigators of battle as they are a part of the whole; in this case, they begin at the end.

For my purposes, these Valkyrie will hearken the end of the Battle of Hogwarts and identifiers of heroes — those who have earned a place at the table of Odin to spend their eternity in pleasure and celebration after a life of hardship.

**Word Count:**** 2208**

**A bright sun, extinguish'd**

Luna raised her head, gingerly, her ears ringing. All she could taste was dirt and blood; all she could see was darkness and shadow. She knew it should be day, yet all around her was stillness, as if night had fallen and all those with breath had fallen with it into slumber. The truth was far less romantic.

_I am lying with the dead_.

For anyone else, this recognition would have elicited a scream of terror; or, at least, a horror deep in one's person. But Luna Lovegood had always seen the world differently; she liked to think it was because _someone _should. Death was no more than a different phase of life, and in that moment, she acknowledged it for what it was. She craned her neck around, this way and that, but it was the same state in all directions. Dust motes caught the faint light that streamed in around broken colonnades and upturned stones that seemed more numerous than the bodies that surrounded her.

Luna looked around before placing her hands firmly upon rock; she was certain not to lean upon the recently departed, and levered herself up with slow, deliberate movements. Her certainty growing as she began to pick her way out, she was startled as the little light to be had was snuffed out — only to be returned in the space of a heartbeat or two. It was like a shadow had passed across the sun, blotting out its rays for a moment. Luna's hands shot out for the nearest wall, her hands groping for purchase as her heart rate spiked and throbbing in her head threatened to put her back on her knees.

She leaned heavily against the cool stone, eyes closed; she tried to take in some air, but found that all she could do was gasp like one drowning.

She hadn't even had time to register her panic, much less the silence that surrounded her. She gulped for air, pressing forward and allowing the steady moving of her body to settle her mind, as much as that was possible. She spent minutes (or hours) hearing only her own breath and the tinkling cascade of crushed rock as they rolled out from beneath her feet before she came to realize that all around her was still.

The Battle for Hogwarts was over; whatever was done, was done.

It was only after the light wavered again, and thrice more, that she even began to wonder. What could cause such a thing? Something large. Something in flight?

_Dementors?_ She turned her face up towards the break in the tumbled of stone that used to be a stolid wall. _Is all lost?_ For the first time since the fray had begun, Luna found herself afraid.

It was then that she heard a voice.

"There are many in here, Mistress," a female voice called out. A horse neighed in the distance and then again, seconds later, nearer to where Luna crouched, hidden in shadow, watching; waiting.

An impossibly tall woman strode through the demolished wall and toward the deceased as if she hovered above the detritus of war. She never missed a step; and to Luna's ears, it seemed as if she never stirred a pebble. She practically glided past, her deep purple cloak streaming out behind her as if borne aloft by its own wind. Luna felt herself press back into the wall as the woman grew ever taller with each grand stride. She wasn't afraid, necessarily; but she also wasn't certain she wanted to call attention to herself.

Behind her streamed a group of identical women who seemingly multiplied before Luna's eyes. They were two, then four, then eight...until the whole corridor seemed to teem with them. Tall and fair to the point of translucent, armoured from head-to-foot and carrying spears that stood eight feet tall or larger. Stunned as she was, Luna found herself leaning away from the wall to get a better look; she had never seen anything so lovely, and so terrible all at once.

The leader, the one who had been called 'Mistress' stood, still as a statue, her gaze fixed upon the decimation before her. She pulled in an audibly deep breath, and struck out with determination toward a far corner of the hall. She kneeled, graceful and swift, only to rise again with a body in her arms. She turned back and was greeted by her nearest compatriot, with whom she exchanged the girl's broken frame. "She gave her life to protect others. She lives now in the Hall of Heroes, for all time." With unearthly strength and carriage, it was proclaimed more than said; and in that moment, a pact was sealed between heaven and earth. A soul was claimed.

Luna gasped aloud before she could check herself as Lavender Brown was carried away by a steel-clad goddess; her head lolling, eyes open, unseeing to the world around her. She could only stare as Lavender was borne away, her heart aching for the loss of a friend Luna was sure she would feel many times over once she rejoined those that remained. Overwhelmed in her feelings as she was, she never heard the woman (was she a spirit? Was she a deity?) approach until she was discovered.

"And you? Your time has not come yet."

Luna jolted back, her eyes torn away from Lavender's departure to find herself face-to-face with a creature more magical than she had ever known before. Her eyes reflected the sky on a clear, cloudless day; striking in their color and in the fact that they contained no pupils - only aquamarine voids that seemed to pierce through to Luna's very core. She felt as if her heart would stop.

"Y—y—you…" she whispered. Her voice had left her. "You…"

"We are Valkyrie, child," the woman announced; speaking was too mild a descriptor for what emanated from the place that served as her mouth. Luna had sneaking suspicion that for such a being, it was only an approximation of what was considered human rather than truly required. "And you are not to be claimed. Not today."

Luna shuttered; the sound was almost unbearable and yet, it had an undeniable allure. It was hard not to move closer.

"B—bu—but I _will _be…" Luna tripped over her own words which sound weak and childish. "Claimed?"

"Yes. Heroes all come to the Hall of Odin to live their life of reward." The female figure blinked slowly, as if she had thought it was the 'human' thing to do in that situation. It didn't put Luna any more at ease.

_Hero? Me?_

The woman rose, her height now more aligned with that of a tall, formidable human woman. She extended a hand to Luna. Her skin glowed with power, with an inner light, as if she channelled pure lightening just beneath her sheathing. It was hard to imagine grabbing onto but Luna forced down her apprehension; she had always welcomed the unusual into her life. Now would be no different, if she were brave enough.

She reached back and took the proffered hand in her own. It was only in that moment that Luna realized that she and her companion were alone. They were also no longer in the castle.

The breeze blew gently across Luna's face, pushing the long summer grass up against her ankles. She squinted against the emerging sun, stunned at how tranquil it all seemed. Instinctively, she approached the horse before her, wanting suddenly, desperately, to stroke its soft neck and feel something besides the growing sadness in the pit of her chest.

"Not yet, Crystal One," the woman spoke, far more softly than she had before. Her voice was almost human now. _Almost_. "I protected you before I offered you my hand," she continued. "A steed of Freya has no ability to do so. Your life force would be immediately taken from you."

Luna stepped back. How could she not have seen it before? The sky had not cleared; clouds rumbled and closed in. Thunder raged and the clouds teemed with Valkyrie astride their war horses, who shot across the sky in streaks of lightning. The sun she felt came from the mount itself; bright and strong, warm and powerful. Luna retracted her hand and closed her eyes, basking in the warmth despite the danger the stallion posed. She had been surrounded by danger for longer than she could remember now; the beauty of this beast seemed to pale in comparison.

"There are many here who require retrieval," the woman spoke, breaking into Luna's reverie. "Many who have earned a place at Odin's table."

For the first time since she had opened her eyes, Luna felt her own power return. "There are. Many are my friends."

"Let us honor them. Together." The woman drew her sword from its scabbard, piercing the dullness of the day with a light that shattered all of Luna's senses. Instinctively, she closed her eyes, only to feel a great gust of wind as the sword passed near her body, lightly grazing her shoulders, her head. The zephyr rose around her, her power complete. "Walk with me," the woman announced, her voice again, a booming appeal of authority. "Honor the sacrifice of life and honor on this battlefield."

The day was long. Too many to count had given all they had to give. Still more gave what they cherished most dear unwillingly. The magic the Valkyrie shared with Luna had given her a keen sense of empathy, of awareness; not of death, but of the moments just before. She felt all the fear, the bravery, the despair of one losing their own personal battle to cling to life. She felt as if there were not enough tears in all the universe to commemorate such loss, yet still, she cried. And she carried on.

She fairly tripped over the tiny form of Colin Creavey in an interior courtyard. As she knelt to touch his brow, Oliver Wood's surprised face rose up to meet her — his hands reaching out as if to ward off a blow. She felt, as much as saw, Colin fling himself forward, his teeth bared and his wand alight. He jumped across Oliver's body, absorbing the curse that was aimed for him. His body landed with a sickening thud as his own curse struck home, incapacitating the Death Eater before them. Here they still lay, bodies in cardinal opposition even in death. Luna rose and signaled to her nearest Valkyrie companion who scooped up the small figure and carried him away. _For he who knows fear, knows bravery. _That _is a hero._

The wails of the grieving brought the Valkyries to the seventh floor corridor to retrieve Fred Weasley. Luna need not have asked; Fred had always been a hero to her for all the ways in which he made even the worst times at Hogwarts bearable. He had a way about him. No direction was needed on the part of the Valkyries; only Molly needed to be convinced. They bore him gently, and carried him with dignity, a warrior at each of his feet, his shoulders and his hips — raised high above their heads. Luna stood silent, holding Molly in her arms.

"Luna," Harry whispered. "Who? How?"

She only smiled at him in that way that she had, and reached out for his hand. They all watched as the Valkyrie retreated in silent reverence.

It was as they lost sight of Fred's retreating form that the first rosy fingers of light began to break through. They had survived. _I begin at the close._

Harry squeezed her fingers and leaned in. "They brought us war," he whispered.

"No, Harry," she answered. She could feel all of his sadness so acutely it hurt. "They bring us solace, and the comfort of knowing that the valiant will be revered in the next life." She felt his fingers pull away from hers; anger, confusion, misery washed over her.

"I don't—" his voice broke as he gave in to his grief, his face melting into a torrent of tears.

"You don't have to," Luna said, quietly. She radiated pure compassion now; it poured out of her into the space between them, washing over any and all near to her physical form. "They are our honored dead, and they are welcomed now to the Halls of the Fallen; until their bravery is needed again." Luna wasn't quite sure how she knew all that, but she felt certain she did. She gazed over Harry's shoulder to see the Leader of the Valkyrie in the distance, looking back at her with her piercing, sightless eyes. She nodded once; a confirmation and an expression of gratitude in one. "Like your parents," Luna continued, even softer now. "They were here for you when you needed them most, weren't they?"

_Always_.

Harry looked up at Luna, his eyes clearing, wonderment on his face.

"Wait!" Harry cried out, his back still to the Valkyrie. "There is one more." He grasped at Luna's hand. "The boathouse."

And they ran out of the castle towards the lake, emerging just as the sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire.


End file.
